In Krakenheim Report

General Summary

The party, having recently arrived in Krakenheim began exploring the locale and pursuing their interests. Martin began by visiting the local bar in Stonethorp named the Wolfmother to determine what public opinion on the king was. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't find much of a consensus on the topic. Sylvan and Naelen both went to the river, though for entirely different reasons. Naelen went to go worship Procan while Sylvan went to try and take a bath. Sylvan struggled to even get wet because of how cold it was outside, while a few other people bathing laughed and made fun of his inability to stand the weather. Naelen too had trouble with his task as he was interrupted by a lone sailor, who recognized that he was a cleric, or at the very least a priest of Procan, and politely asked him to bless the ship he would be travelling on for safe passage. Naelen happily agreed and was warmly welcomed by the fishermen. However, while he was at the docks, he recognized a familiar banner, a black cross on a scarlet background; the symbol of the Scarlet Brotherhood was flying on a nearby ship. The sailors on it weren't dressed in any mariners garb, but rather in red robes with dark red armbands. Wanting to know more, Naelen made his way to a lower fishing dock closer to the water and lured a sleepy fish to him and offered food in exchange for a quick underwater scout of the ship. Unfortunately, after a search, the fish turned up with very little information, thankfully, the fish's price was no more than a bit of food. Meanwhile, Kaizzt made his way to Jarl Brella's longhouse in Stonepoint. Once inside, he met both Brella and a man named Joland, one of the king's advisers, who was glad to see Kaizzt there, as he had been tasked with giving him a sum of fifty gold for rooms at a nice inn in town. After a few subtle comments hinting at a poor treatment by the king, Joland left Kaizzt and Brella to talk business. Kaizzt, wanting to make a good impression on the other Jarls and hoping to increase his popularity and chances of becoming a Jarl himself, asked what he could do or who he might talk to in this regard. He was told to talk to Tamain the Seer, the oldest Jarl. Brella thought the two might become fast friends due to a shared interest in fate. She also mentioned that he could talk to Willeim and Aemar, if he could stand their hard-headedness and battle-lust, though she warned him about Turin Steelbones, a dwarf jarl who was distrustful of elves, notably drow and that making any headway in a conversation with him could be difficult. With newfound advice aiding him, he made his way to Tamain, who was already at the door, expecting his arrival. The two sat down and spoke for awhile, Kaizzt openly admitting his complete ignorance of the Fruztii culture, expressed a desire to learn more about the land and its customs. Tamain agreed and taught him some of the basics of his duties if he were to become jarl as well as some of the expectations, being among nobles. Their meeting ended with Tamain gifting Kaizzt a fine bottle of dark mead, which he accepted gladly. During his meetings with Brella and Tamain, Naelen found Dreamstroke and Sylvan and told them about the Scarlet Brotherhood ship. The two theft buddies immediately rushed to investigate it, turning invisible to sneak below deck and used Naelen as a distraction. While Naelen bought some ale to pass out to the crewmembers and blessed the boat, (they were suspicious but wouldn't say no to free alcohol) Dream and Sylvan snuck aboard. On deck, they noticed two strange iron tubes atop small carts. They paid little attention to them and made their way into the hold. They found it relatively empty and began prying crates open. They found weapons and armor, strange iron spheres and a black sand or powder, and three strange relics: a clay tablet encrusted with semiprecious stones of green hue, a headdress with rainbow feathers, and a small crucible made of a dark, yet light metal. They stashed their loot in one of the bags of holding and made their way off the ship, letting Naelen finish his act. Nearing the end of the day, the six adventurers made their way to one of the inns, the Winded Sail, for some food, drink and rest. The party set themselves up for a comfortable night at a discount, since the sailor Naelen helped owed the innkeeper a favor. Each member shared what they had done for the day, everyone being particularly interested in Sylvan and Dreamstroke's heist. The two showed what they had found to Martin, who determined that the headdress and tablet were likely from the Amedio Jungle, and that the crucible was made of a very rare metal known as "oerthblood", which was highly prized and used in the crafting of immensely powerful magical items. After they had finished up their chat, the six went to sleep. All was not well however, as Kaizzt had an incredibly restless sleep plagued with nightmares, one particularly memorable one was of a man dressed in scholarly red robes, wearing the same red armband he saw on the other Brotherhood monks. The air was surrounded by taut silver strands, holding Kaizzt in place as he watched the man drink from a silver cup. As he finished, he began to cackle manically and disintegrate, leaving behind only bones. Waking up in a sweat, Kaizzt made his way downstairs to meet with the rest of the party. After everyone ate a decent meal prepared by Sylvan, Kaizzt, Martin and a few others made their way to Bulwark, the king's keep. As they tried to make their way into the courtyard, two gate guards stopped the group. Sylvan tried to convince the guards that they belonged there, but the guards didn't buy it. As a last ditch effort, Kaizzt showed the guards his pegasus, Rhijo, which struck them with awe, and were too distracted with the majestic creature to prevent them from entering. As they passed through the gate, the sounds of clashing steel became louder as they came upon two men dressed in full plate, one with a bearded axe and another with a wide blade and a shield. As their fighting slowed, they noticed the new presence and introduced themselves as Willeim Axe-Lord and Aemar the Left Handed. After speaking awhile about the upcoming Kingsmoot, Kaizzt offered to duel Aemar, who agreed and gave himself a handicap, using only his shield. The fight began and ended fast, as Kaizzt was unable to land any solid blows and Aemar was able to rush past his defenses and batter him with his shield. Martin also wanted to give it a go, though with Rock Lobster at his side. Aemar accepted the challenge, drawing his blade this time. Unlike Kaizzt, Martin was able to land some powerful blows and avoid some of Aemar's savage strikes due to the help of Rock Lobster. Though he performed impressively, Rock Lobster was heavily damaged by the fight, and Martin too was knocked on his ass. Aemar, though gloating, was visibly worn from the two duels and refused to accept any more. With that the party returned to the Winded Sail to rest, but before bed, Clarimund spoke to Martin about potentially making some special or magical arrows. Martin said he would think about it and immediately got to creating schematics for an arrow that incorporated the explosive black powder they found. The next day, Martin, Clarimund and Dream began collecting feathers for fletching and wood for the arrows while Martin began work on a casing to hold both alchemist's fire and the black powder. Kaizzt, against the advice of Brella, decided to meet with Turin and made his way to his longhouse. Trying to curry as much favor as he could, he offered the mead he received from Tamain at the entrance. After taking the mead to Turin, the guard came back and let Kaizzt enter. Before them was Turin sitting on a carved wooden throne in his full battle-gear, with a large war hammer resting at his side. The meeting was tense but after Kaizzt voiced his concerns about the Scarlet Brotherhood and his past experiences, Turin's mood calmed and agreed to meet with him and Brella the next day. When the next day came around, Martin had finally finished the arrows for Clarimund and gave a couple to Sylvan too, four in total. After Martin had distributed them, the entire group made their way to Turin's longhouse where Brella and himself had a table prepared for them all. Sitting down, they all discussed their concerns about the Brotherhood, and agreed to have each other's backs during the Kingsmoot, no matter what happened. After their business was done, the six adventurers retired to the Winded Sail, preparing themselves for the next few days they would have. // Though, it turned out they would not get the night of peaceful rest they desired, as Martin had terrible dreams of a strange creature biting his leg. When he woke, the pain in his leg remained and, as he pulled the sheet away from his leg, he revealed that just like his dream, something vaguely humanoid had bitten him in his sleep, leaving a few metal teeth in the wound and a lot of blood that had soaked through Martin's mattress. Crawling his way over to Kaizzt, he shook him, waking him up. As Kaizzt sleepily rolled over, his eyes grew wide, locking onto Martin's wound. Immediately, Kaizzt laid hands on the wound, summoning silver strands that sealed it. The two of them met Dreamstroke and Sylvan in the barroom, as Naelen and Clarimund were off dealing with business. Displaying the teeth on a table, Martin explained what happened to Dream and Sylvan. To everyone's surprise, the teeth spoke up, stating that they were a scholar and had sought out the party or a group of people like them to complete a task. The teeth promised that there would be payment if they agreed to help, but that they had to bring the teeth back to their benefactor. Though reluctant, due to their time restrictions, they decided that they would go and at least hear more about the job. The four of them used Rhijo and their bags of holding to make the trip as quick as possible, taking only an hour to reach their destination, a small hut on a hill, not too far from Krakenheim. Though it looked completely ordinary from the outside, the interior was lit by strange globules of light, and the walls seemed to bend and warp unnaturally. They were met by an old woman, who stuck the iron teeth into her mouth, completing the set. She explained that the teeth worked for her, but she allowed them to perform research from time to time. The teeth desperately wanted to explore a nearby tower and retrieve a strange relic, but the old woman needed them to assist in her work, so the two agreed that the teeth could find someone to do the work instead. Each was promised something of equal value for the venture, which they agreed to. Once again, Sylvan and Dream climbed into bags of holding, while Kaizzt and Martin mounted Rhijo and they set off for the tower. From their aerial perspective, they saw strange shaped hiding among the rocks on the hill, atop which the tower sat. Landing at the base of the tower, giving Rhijo a place to graze, Sylvan made his way up the slope as quietly as he could. Unfortunately, there were many loose stones that he dislodged, causing them to scatter down the hill, making his boots of elvenkind all but useless, allowing three nothics to get the jump on him. They tore into him, rending his flesh and nearly killed him. Luckily, he was a bit faster than the three and skidded his way back down, avoiding their deadly gazes. The rest of the party caught up with Sylvan and gave him cover, making short work of the three. Moving forward, they came to the base of the tower, finding only a rotted wooden door in their way. Pushing through they found a relatively empty room, save a few rotted pieces of furniture, a stone statue of a devil and a stone table. After poking around a bit, Kaizzt accidentally triggered a trap, sending a gout of flame at Sylvan, who was not amused at Kaizzt's blunder. Moving upwards as quietly as possible, Sylvan saw that the second and final floor was littered with bones and bits of weaponry. In the center was a chipped stone table with a mysterious glowing orb in it, certainly what the teeth had sent them to find, and a throne with a skeleton in it, a dagger pinning him to it. Each person set to inspecting a part of the room, but they were soon interrupted as Dreamstroke pulled off a necklace from the skeleton on the throne, which gave him a strange sense of deja vu, reminding him of when he first found his pact weapon. As he freed it from the skeleton's neck, the room was washed with a purple energy, emanating from the orb set in the table. Immediately, the skeletons in the room were filled with an unlife, and surrounded the party. Though they were surprised, the party quickly put down the undead. They quickly pried the orb from the table, causing the energy to calm to a low hum. Though Martin wanted to return the orb back to the teeth and old woman in exchange for information about his sword and its intricate mechanics. Kaizzt and Dream both were opposed to this however, Dream so much so that he threatened to leave, as did Martin if he did not get his way. Things were tense, but eventually, they agreed to give the orb to the teeth as long as they didn't sense any funny business. The four made their way back to the old woman's hut and were able to deduce, with help from the teeth, that the orb was a conduit for spells and originated from the Shadowfell. Seeing that the job was done, each individual asked for their reward from the old woman. Martin asked for information about the sword, and in return, the old woman let him borrow a copy of "Kwalish's Introduction to Soulforging". Dream asked what connections he had to the orb an amulet he found, and was told that he and the previous owner both shared the same patron. Kaizzt asked how he might stop the Scarlet Brotherhood, but was only met with more questions and mockery for asking such a vague question with a very convoluted answer. Sylvan asked only for information about incubi and succubi, which he received on a single sheet of vellum. With that, the four returned to Krakenheim, with a few hours to spare to prepare themselves for the Kingsmoot.

Notes

Started on 10th of Ready'reat, 600 CY
Ended on 15th of Ready'reat, 600 CY